IMC Hawks Blog

Category: IMC

  • Political Bias in the Media

    Campaigning for the 2012 presidential election has begun.  Republican hopefuls are working to convince voters that they are the right choice to defeat President Obama, while the president is trying to convince everyone that he should remain in office.  In 2008, the Democratic and Republican parties shared some of the same beliefs on certain issues, but had opposing viewpoint on others.  Democrats were in favor of requirements to hire more women and minorities, repealing tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, and removing troops from Iraq.  Republicans were in favor of three strikes sentencing laws, taking steps to strengthen the economy and more anti-drug initiatives.  Both parties were in favor of limits on political campaign funds, and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.  The sentences above about the different parties were straightforward and un-biased, but it is difficult to find such information from one source.  You must be very careful in 2012 while selecting the information you are going to consider, regarding the candidates.  Beware of the agenda setters!

    Certain types of media will tell you that the Republicans are money hungry classists who are only in favor of appeasing the rich, with the intent to modify tax laws in order to behoove large corporations.  Then, that same media outlet will likely show a documentary on the sub-prime mortgage crisis, featuring interviews with families in middle America who lost everything.  There will be a lot of content promoting public programs for the under-served, and illustrating the Democrats as the humanitarian party.  That media outlet selectively left out good points about the Republican party on purpose.  It is called agenda setting, and it is when the media controls the amount of exposure certain news gets.  The more exposure people get to certain types of news, the more important it becomes.  If messages about middle Americans losing everything reach you every day, it will become important to you because it will inadvertently be on your mind.  There could be a more pressing issue out there, but if it is not prominent in the media, how will you know?

    You may be fooled into thinking that all Republicans are overly conservative and old-fashioned, and that Democrats are big spending and incautious if you don’t investigate for yourself. With regards to IMC, each party tends to portray the opposing side negatively. This poor image can potentially end a candidate’s campaign. With this in mind, it is up to the people to figure out which issues are important and research them from both angles. Ultimately,  politics can be quite biased, filled with false information and one-sided opinions. When you vote in this upcoming election remember: you cannot believe everything you hear or see.

    -Stephanie Bakolia, Claire Outlaw, David Glaubach

  • The 31 days of Hallomedia

    On a scale of one to fun — Halloween is by far the most-fun holiday of all holidays. Christmas is great, Easter is swell, and Hanukkah has the tendency to get crazy, but Halloween tops them all in terms of an all-around good time. It is such a good time that there is an entire month, “Monstober,” dedicated to it on the Disney Channel! On ABC Family, 13 solid-packed nights of Halloween are sure to get you in the spooky-spirit!

    And how could we ever forget the infamous annual hour-long special of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”, which airs tonight at 8pm on ABC.  Other holidays are also heavily recognized in the media, such as Christmas and Valentine’s Day, however, they do not compare to the hype of Halloween and the month of October.

    If you think about it, although Christmas is considered a Christian holiday, it is celebrated by a large number of non-Christians as well. The only thing is, Christmas is surrounded by other holidays that “steal its thunder,” if you will. Hanukkah and Kwanza, with New Years’ celebrations shortly after, withdraw some of the attention to Christmas. On the other hand, Halloween has October’s attention-span all to its self!

    Every morning in the month of October talk shows across network television showcase all that Halloween has to offer in terms of recipes, decorating, and entertaining. The Today Show with Kathy Lee and Hoda provide you with the tasty treats and monstrous-mixed drinks. LIVE with Regis and Kelly share ideas for how to dress the snazziest at your Halloween event, while The Martha Stewart Show gets you ready to decorate your house in a ghoulish, yet glamorous way.

    When else can you convert a fruit or vegetable into a bird! Our own blogger, Jordan, made these adorable Angry Bird-inspired pumpkins.

    Later on in the day, while you are prepping your plans for the holiday with all of your newfound knowledge, holiday favorites are featured on T.V. Who doesn’t love seeing the Disney Channel’s Halloweentown and its three other entries, Halloweentown II, III, and IV. Hocus Pocus, Beetlejuice, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Casper round out some of the classics featured on television during the month of October. It’s amazing, if you think about it — all of these great movies and shows that are featured each year were filmed many years ago; yet, they continue to market to us and we keep tuning in!

    With Hallomedia, we can enjoy the entire month of October with all it has to offer, not just the last day!

    — Michela Noreski, Jordan Hill, Ashley Nelson

  • The Spooky Branding Reality of Halloween

    What is the most important thing about Halloween?  Your costume!  When we were younger, we thought running around the neighborhood for a few hours trick or treating was the essence of Halloween.  But as college students, we start pondering our costumes weeks or even months in advance, while candy and parties are afterthoughts.  A Halloween costume allows you to express yourself more freely than you can in everyday clothes, and for many college students it is the most important outfit of the year.  Some people spend hundreds of dollars putting together the perfect costume, complete with make-up, wigs and props.  Last year, the costume most searched on Google was Lady Gaga.  This year, the two top searches appear to be Nicki Minaj and Charlie Sheen.  Among other popular searches are Pan Am, Amy Winehouse, Rihanna and Katy Perry.

    When we were children, we dressed up as witches, robots, zombies and the occasional super hero.  Today, we dress up like celebrities.  Maybe this indicates that during college, our behaviors are influenced by ethos more than when we were younger.  The fact that many college students transform themselves into their favorite stars for Halloween may correlate with the general spending habits of people ages 18-24.  If many people are buying things to look like celebrities for Halloween, it is safe to assume that they are buying things related to celebrities for everyday items as well.

    Being in the headlines helps celebrities promote their brand whether it’s intentional or not.  Halloween gives celebrities the greatest opportunity for celebrities to increase their brand awareness.  Those featured in the news and by other media outlets are getting their brand out there.  The people dressing up as these celebrities for Halloween are ultimately walking advertisements for the celebrity they are trying to imitate.

    -Stephanie Bakolia, Claire Outlaw, David Glaubach

  • Trick or treat..Smell my feet..IMC

    To many people, Halloween strictly means candy, tricks, costumes, and monsters. However, Halloween actually has a history rooted in religious conquests and power struggles; a characteristic that most people are unaware of. This national holiday dates back to Celtic pagan festivals that celebrated the end of the harvest season.Druid ceremony They believed that on this day the spirits would come back to earth and roam free; causing mischief and looking for living souls to possess. The people would dress up in frightening costumes, make blood sacrifices and leave food outside of their front doors in an attempt to ward off the evil spirits and appease their appetites. Halloween only fundamentally changed when the Romans took the Celtic lands and forced Christianity among its people. The Romans adopted the Celtic celebrations, infusing their religious beliefs into the concepts, and named it “All Saints Day” in order to honor the saints that did not have a day of their own.  By the 1500s, “All Saint’s Day” had become “All Hallows’ Day”, and the Celtic festival had begun to be known as All Hallows’ Evening, Hallow Evening, and eventually… Halloween. 
    This holiday fell somewhat dormant until 1921 when the first citywide celebration of Halloween began in Anoka, Minnesota; followed by New York and L.A. Only about 5% of the American population celebrated this holiday until now, as it has become one of the most celebrated holidays in the US. With this mainstream evolution in mind, many businesses are in debt to the creators of such a day. From candy to costumes, this day turns out to be one of the most profitable of the year, making the importance of marketing efforts vitally important. The goal of the holiday is no longer to ward off evil spirits; but rather to have the best costume and best collection of candy. For one day every year, people feel it necessary to build a costume based on their perception of a person, product, or trend; driving attention to some of the biggest “hits” of the year. Since everyone is now participating in the tradition, the role of marketers is to offer these costumes and candies to every main audience of Halloween: children, parents, teenagers, and young adults, in hope that their variety will be selected as the “hot item” this year.

    Jared Sales, Sally Shupe, Oliver Evans

  • Potato — Po-ta-to : Sweet Potato vs. Yam

    North Carolina is known for celebrating many odd and obscure things. For instance, our great state has festivals glorifying everything from pickles to blueberries, from crabs to mules, and in this case: both sweet potatoes and yams. Are you following along – sweet potatoes and yams are two separate entities!

    yams

    In the United States, yams are really just another name for a sweet potato. However, a true yam is usually imported to America from the Caribbean. When cooked, yams are a soft, sweet, orange concoction. I know what you’re thinking – this sounds just like a sweet potato! The US Department of Agriculture requires that the label “yam” always be accompanied by “sweet potato” to avoid the confusion because they are generally used interchangeably.

    North Carolina is known for specializing in this crop of ‘related-vegetables’. The sweet potato is a native crop in North Carolina and is primarily grown in the coastal plain area of the state.  We are also recognized for our crops in tobacco, cotton, blueberries, and peanuts.

    But, why should we celebrate a vegetable? The answer is, why not! October 22nd and 23rd, in Tabor City, N.C., the NC Yam Festival celebrates its agricultural heritage by saluting the yam. From 1947 until 1961, the little border town of Tabor City played host to one of North Carolina’s largest festivals.  Since 1947 the Carolina Yam Festival has been attracting as many as 15,000 visitors each year, to this tiny community of less and 2,000. The following weekend, in Snow Hill, N.C., Greene County will be celebrating the vegetable at the 4th annual N.C. Sweet Potato Festival.

    Each event is sure to be a good time, with the Sweet Potato festival having entertainment such as Jason Michael Carroll at this years’ event.  But, if you look at it like these North Carolina growers do, more is always better – so check out both festivals!

    If you are not craving a sweet potato/yam after all of this, hopefully this will at least ease your mind: the main difference in these two vegetables is that their individual festivals are held on different weekends in October and are about 2.5 hours away from each other! These festivals combined don’t need any marketing, they rely on word of mouth to promote these fantastic events for people of all ages to have a yam good time!

    – Michela Noreski, Jordan Hill, Ashley Nelson

  • Connecting to Potential Jobs

    When it comes to the big job hunt, there are a plethora of considerations that come to mind. Seeking out career fairs, perfecting your resume, and getting the right professional look all seem to be high on the list. However, there’s one tool we sometimes neglect when it comes to seeking out jobs in our field, whether it be Marketing, Advertising, PR, or IMC: social networking. Sites such as LinkedIn provide a huge leg up for those looking for a job in our current market. You will be able to get your resume out to multiple different audiences with the click of your mouse, while also putting your resume out to employers who you may have initially overlooked.

    Not only is LinkedIn important for initially creating new job opportunities, it is also useful in growing and cultivating new connections and relationships. Networking is extremely important in the field of IMC and every connection you get could be a potential for a new opportunity. Active use of this resource shows those you have connected with, what you are up to, how you are looking to grow professionally, and if you are currently looking for employment options. With the current economic state, we have to exploit every avenue we can to ensure that we are able to find a job upon graduating.  While it is necessary that we have a strong resume and good interviewing skills, we also have to remember that our potential job opportunity could be found through LinkedIn.

    – Lauren Phelps, Alaethea Hensley, Jessica Kingman


  • Walking Billboards

    When we first hear the term “product placement” our minds invariably flash to ill-disguised attempts by companies to sling their brands into popular television shows and movies. The movie Transformers 3 was bashed for looking like one giant advertisement for a litany of companies including Mercedes, Nokia, and Apple.

    But what about the infamous red carpet? As stars twirl their way down these crimson lanes, they will all face one important question: Who are you wearing? By having a star tout your brand, it raises its stock tenfold. For instance, in 1998, Kim Basinger arrived at the Oscars in an Escada gown raising the then relatively unknown German fashion house’s profile to an international status. Jewelry also has a big stake in the red carpet industry. Jeweler Harry Winston can usually be found dripping off of no less than 20 celebrities, but when rival brand Chopard wanted a part of the red carpet action they offered celebrities Hilary Swank and Charlize Theron a six-figure paycheck to wear a pair of their earrings.

    Off the red carpet, celebrities are still walking billboards for fashion companies. Take a look at the Australian footwear brand UGG. After the tabloids started picking up shots of Cameron Diaz and Kate Hudson flouncing around town in their boots, sales went through the roof. At this point, almost everyone either has a pair of UGGs or knows at least two people who do. And in this vein, when The Today Show featured a segment about Madonna’s infatuation with designer Steve Madden’s Iglou boots, the company racked in 240 orders for the boots in a grand total of 13 minutes giving the company a whopping $30,000 in profit. 

    So what does this all mean? Must our favorite celebs only be seen as walking product placements? Do they not have any taste of their own? Of course, they do. But the next time you run out and buy a pair of shoes because Kim Kardashian was wearing them at her birthday party, think how you might be doing exactly what their marketers intended.

    -Jessica Kingman, Alaethea Hensley, and Lauren Phelps